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Exactly 2,806 iGorilla applications have been sold to date. $2.80 of the $3.99 cost go directly to Virunga National Park - which means nearly $8,000 has been raised that will be spent on the protection of Mountain Gorillas and other wildlife in Africa’s oldest national park.

Go here to download the application

Thank you to all who have bought iGorilla - the first application for iPhone and iTouch dedicated to protecting Mountain Gorillas.

And you can also read a review by AppleiPhoneReview of the app here.

Help us protect Mountain Gorillas by downloading and using iGorilla or by Guarding a Gorilla. Thank you.

Finally some good news! The only 2 orphan baby mountain gorillas in the world are going to get the home they deserve, a stone’s throw from their natural habitat in Virunga National Park, eastern DR Congo.

Ndakasi and Ndeze, the females orphaned in mid 2007 when their mothers were massacred, will be able to fully enjoy life in a custom-built forest home with their 4 carers, Andre, Patrick, Alfred and Richard.

Ndeze & Ndakasi have been living in a new forest home since December 2009 after moving there from the dusty and noisy city of Goma. But it is only partially complete - in actual fact it is a 40 by 40 meter holding facility - and now with the additional funding we will be able to finish it off.

We will also be able to facilitate a comprehensive educational outreach program, especially for the communities living around the Gorilla Sector. In addition, we will ensure that para-veterinary facilities are provided to care for the gorilla orphans, and the other wildlife in Virunga.

This is possible thanks to many of you, who gave both big and small - but the final push was thanks to The Howard G Buffett Foundation. Mr Howard Buffett visited Rumanagabo, Virunga’s HQ, back in December (he was in fact the first visitor on the viewing platform), and has since donated $80,250. These monies, combined with the funds raised on this website BY YOU, will be doubled by the UN Foundation, giving the total of $211,500.

All your donations have been listed on the blog. In total we raised over $30,000 between 16 November 2009, when the campaign was launched, and the end of the year through the website. Thank you to all, and also to the Gorilla Godparents of Ndeze and Ndakasi.

This diagram - which some of you have already seen - gives an idea of what the Senkwekwe Centre will look like once it is completed. We will kickstart construction next month.

Very special thanks to all of you who made this happen:

The Murry Foundation - who got the project off the ground in the very beginning, back in July 2008.

Gearing Up 4 Gorillas - who introduced us to The Murry Foundation and has also provided valuable funding and support.

Raemonde Bezenar - who gave us money when the project stalled after the war, a critical time.

The Howard G Buffett Foundation - the final push - thank you very much.

The United Nations Foundation & UNESCO - who are doubling the money from our web campaign and The Howard G Buffett Foundation.

AND YOU - who all donated via the website or sent checks.

THANK YOU.

Now watch this space to see the construction unfold.

Last week the Rangers of Virunga and the organization World Wildlife Fund gave vital support to the briquette program.

The Rangers, thanks to Emmanuel’s instruction (and financing), purchased 450 fuel briquette sacks, and WWF donated 450 improved Jiko Punguza stoves (these stoves usually cost $5.50 to make). These stoves, as their name suggests, make cooking more efficient by their improved design.

The briquettes and the stoves were all distributed among the Rangers of the southern and central sectors of Virunga National park and their families:

143 fuel briquette sacks and stoves to Rwindi

69 fuel briquette sacks and stoves to Rutshuru

88 fuel briquette sacks and stoves to Lulimbi

150 fuel briquette sacks and stoves to Rumangabo

1 stove and 1 sack of fuel briquettes for every Ranger

Everyone was taught how to light up the fuel briquettes

Thank you Rangers and WWF for the contribution! This support of the briquette program will contribute toward stopping deforestation, avoiding the risks associated with making charcoal, and boosting our sales!

More news on the briquettes coming soon.

Do you remember this?

This was the gorilla massacre that shocked all the Rangers in our park two years ago

Senkwekwe, this majestic Silverback, and four members of his family were murdered in July 2007. Ndeze, then two months old, was found clinging to her mother’s breast.  Ndeze was so young, it was a miracle she survived.

Ndeze, with her mother Safari, shortly before the massacre in 2007

Today, Ndeze needs a new home.

We, the Rangers of Virunga, need your help.

We need to raise $103,250 to take Ndeze, and the only other orphaned, baby mountain gorilla in the world, Ndakasi, out of the dirty and dangerous conditions in which they live in the city of Goma.

The city of Goma - the dust and pollution are a threat to the survival of Ndeze & Ndakasi

We need to take them back to their natural, forest habitat and put them in a purpose-built, open-air orphanage staffed by their carers and vets. The Senkwekwe Centre, a 2.5 acre (1 hectare) plot of lush forest which is named after Ndeze’s murdered father, will be a place where these two orphaned gorillas can be healthy, happy and safe. It will also be a place to which local children - the future guardians of Virunga - can come to learn about the gorillas and the forests that it will one day be their responsibility to protect.

Ndakasi & Ndeze play with their carers in Goma

We need to raise the $103,250 by 24th December 2009.

Time is short because these gorillas need to go home now.

All the money you give will go directly and entirely to the Senkwekwe Centre; and everything you give will be matched by the United Nations Foundation.

FOR EVERY DOLLAR YOU GIVE, THE UN FOUNDATION WILL GIVE ANOTHER DOLLAR.

Some 200 of the world’s 720 Mountain Gorillas live in Virunga National Park in DR Congo: a unique, protected, cross-section of African ecology that runs from the foothills of the Virunga volcanoes, through the savannah that leads to the shores and wetlands of Lake Edward and north to the great forest and mountains of Ruwenzori.  The park is unimaginable in its scale and diversity, and is home to many endangered species. None is more endangered than the Mountain Gorilla.

Andre Bauma, the chief gorilla carer, with Ndeze

The park, and the species that live within it, are under constant threat. Deforestation from illegal charcoal production led by reble groups,  clearance for settlement and agriculture, threatens habitats. Poaching and over-fishing  threaten the survival of the wildlife.

Perhaps the deadliest threat to the gorillas has been the fifteen year long War. The war has forced very large numbers of refugees to move in and around the southern part of the park. These refugees have caused a massive increase in demand for fuel and space.  Poaching has also increased, with the chaos of war. These threats became a tragic and brutal reality in July 2007 when Senkwekwe and four family members were massacred by unknown assailants.

The struggle to protect the gorillas and their habitat from these many threats may at times seem desperate but the Senkwekwe Centre brings some hope.

There is nothing any of us can do about Senkwekwe and his murdered family but there is something we can do to protect the present, and the future, of Ndakasi and Ndeze.

Innocent checks out the lush forests of the Senkwekwe Centre last week, which is located at Rumangabo park station in Virunga National Park, a stone’s throw from the Gorilla Sector

We have completed roughly half of the building work. There is a 40×40 meter quarantine area within the Senkwekwe Centre that is complete, but the wall that will form the perimeter of the 2.5 acre plot is unfinished. As your money comes in we will continue building it until the security of these baby gorillas is guaranteed.

All the donations made through the website during the campaign will go to the Senkwekwe Centre unless otherwise indicated by the donor. Every Saturday we will post a total of the donations we have received in the previous week.

This is what we need:

The Perimeter Wall of the Senkwekwe Centre - $35,000

Gorilla Care & Supplies for 3 months @ $5,500 per month - $16,500

8 Observation Platforms for visitors @ $7,000 each - $56,000

Furniture for the Orphans & Carers - $4,000

Visitor & Educational Outreach Centre - $25,000

Carer & Veterinary Accomodation - $30,000

Educational Material for the children & visitors - $25,000

Office & Veterinary Laboratory - $20,000

Minus a $5,000 donation we received towards the Senkwekwe Centre on Friday. (Thank You!)

GRAND TOTAL: $206,500

WE NEED $103,250 FROM YOU, AND THE UNITED NATIONS FOUNDATION WILL DOUBLE IT.

If you have any questions, comments, information… please leave a comment on this post. We need your help on this one. Thank you.

As you can tell from the content of the blog we have already trained Rangers throughout Virunga National Park in how to shoot video and take photos. It is very important to document this park’s wildlife – not just the gorillas but all the animals. Virunga is arguably the most biodiverse park in Africa, but it is also the most threatened and so its species have suffered enormously from poaching, war and deforestation. That is why we get so excited when we see an increase in animal populations – whether it be the gorillas of Mikeno, the hippos of Ishango, the elephants of Kabaraza or the chimps of Tongo (and I could go on and on!)

So now a camera or Flip video camera form part of the essential field gear of many Rangers. And now we have gone one step further – the Rangers now have better Video equipment and are being trained by Katya in how to shoot the best images of the gorillas. This will then be expanded to other parts of the park.

Every additional step we take toward improving the content of this blog and transmitting better images is very important to us. It is part of the critical step of getting our message to the outside world.

Thanks again for all your support.

Last month the Rangers reported a marked and alarming rise in the number of hippos killed in the Central Sector of Virunga National Park. The Rangers are almost certain that this is the work of FARDC (DRC Armed Forces).

Eight Hippos were killed in a month.

Remember Virunga National Park was once home to the world’s largest hippopotamus population in Africa.

During the war years this population decimated. Nowadays the Rangers hope to rebuild that population: indeed ‘Rebuilding!’ is a Rangers’ slogan.

A Herd of Hippos in the Semliki River

The Briquette Program is going full steam ahead and production of both briquettes and the presses that make them is increasing rapidly. We have had early success selling briquettes in bulk for IDP camps, but now the main challenge is to compete with the charcoal markets of Goma that are the biggest threat to Virunga’s forests.

Demonstrating the proper use of briquettes

That is why I visited an organisation called APROSAF (Association pour la Promotion de la Sage Femme) to demonstrate how briquettes work. This is an association made up of 118 women (many of them midwives or sage femme in French literally meaning ” wise woman”) which was created in the wake of the 2002 Nyiragongo eruption to help families made homeless by the devastating lava flow which ripped through Goma.

Read the full story »

The Briquette Program is advancing well and I will be giving you a full update this weekend.

In the mean-time and for those of you who do not know about briquettes as an alternative energy to the charcoal production that is destroying the forests of Virunga National Park, here is a video we put together with Katya and Balemba:

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Today ends the Fuel Briquette campaign launched last month to raise $28,897 for the 100 pressing machines and accessories to be installed in the month of May. We have raised $25,332.50, including the 2 checks for $5,000 each from Gary W and Andrew C.

Downloading a truck full of fuel briquette sacks in a refugee camp

From Balemba, Jean Bosco, myself, and all the Park Rangers who help us on the ground daily, we would like to thank every one of you who has contributed to make this happen. Every person who has made a donation and left a comment of encouragement is responsible for the continuation and success of the program. Read the full story »

Last month I wrote about the treacherous road that goes to Bukima. The condition of the road makes it very difficult to make it up to Bukima by car and is a real hindrance to our activities in the Gorilla Sector.

However, I am pleased to say that work has started on fixing the road, as you can see in the pictures below. This is made possible by a grant of $85,000 from the Dutch governmental agency DGIS as part of the Greater Virunga Transboundary Collaboration (GVTC) programme. The work should take about 90 days, so we hope to have a good road by the end of June.

The road is being entirely re-built using manual labour hired locally. This work will therefore pump a lot of money into the local economy and will play an important big role in relaunching the agricultural economy around the park, which an important part of post-war recovery.

It seems like only yesterday when Innocent was the first person in 15 months to drive up this very road, which was once thought to have been mined during the war. (see video here)